Milk producers focus on yogurt products Yogurt, whey and cheese are bringing two-digit growth rates to milk producers.  Holding 84 percent of the yogurt market share, Vinamilk, the nation’s leading dairy producer, has been marketing new products, from yogurt with aloe to yogurt for children. IDP, after launching Love In Farm, its first yogurt product, has introduced a series of products with additional nutrients and fruits. Yogurt makes up nearly 50 percent of the company’s revenue. FrieslandCampina, TH true Milk, Nutifood and Hanoi Milk have also marketed new products. Mark Boot, CEO of FrieslandCampina Vietnam, said he feels satisfied about the sales of “Dutch Lady” brand pasteurized yogurt which have been growing well over a short time. TH Milk has confirmed a two-digit annual growth rate of TH True yogurt products in the last few years. Nutifood, which just began making yogurt after signing a contract with Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group on the group’s milk material supply, reported that ‘demand is higher than production capacity’ and that it plans to expand production in the near future, when the material supply increases. Cheese  Though cheese products remain unpopular to many Vietnamese, dairy producers have begun scaling up production because they can see great potential in the country in the future. According to the US Dairy Export Council (USDEC), cheese consumption in Vietnam has been seen two-digit growth rates in recent years, which has prompted US companies to increase cheese exports to the country. Bel Vietnam in July 2015 decided to invest $17 million to build a new factory in Binh Duong province after it realized that sales have been going very well. In the third quarter of 2012, Bel Vietnam’s sales increased by 70 percent over the second quarter, while sales in 2013 were 35 percent higher than 2012. When asked about market demand, a representative of Hoang Lan Trading Company which distributes President brand cheese said the company sells about 600 tons a year and sales have been increasing sharply in the last two years. Meanwhile, in an effort to develop whey products, IDP said it had invested VND53 billion in a herd of milk cows in the Ba Vi area, which will provide stable input material to whey production. Vu Khanh Toan, marketing director of Delys, said the company plans to expand the distribution of whey products after it gains success with Zott’s Monte whey in Vietnam. DNSG